Leadership Team
Valerie is the Technology Coordinator for the Pivot Program. Valerie also jointly serves as the Technology Coordinator for the Prisons and Justice Initiative (PJI) at Georgetown University. In her role, Valerie supports the bridging of instructional technology with our students and is responsible for aiding in the technology integration process for Pivot Fellows.
Valerie is a magna cum laude graduate of Howard University, with a degree in Psychology and Business Administration. By trade, she is a web designer and developer with expertise in user experience. Valerie finds her work with Pivot and PJI extremely rewarding and is dedicated to empowering incarcerated individuals and supporting their reintegration into society.
Dr. Crystal R. Francis is the Assistant Director of Program Management of the Pivot Program. Dr. Francis brings more than 14 years of experience as a senior program analyst for the federal government. She has over a decade of experience in the justice reform and policy advocacy space. In Maryland, she is recognized as a local champion for reentry, advocating for policies that remove education, employment, and housing barriers for returning citizens.
Outside of Pivot, she volunteers as a board member for the Maryland Alliance for Justice Reform and is the Community Representative for Baltimore County’s Equitable Policing Advisory Workgroup. In these roles, she works to eliminate racial and ethnic disparities in Maryland’s Justice System while helping people returning from jails and prisons lead productive lives. Dr. Francis earned a Bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice from the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, a Master’s in Homeland Security from Towson University, and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Public Policy and Administration from Walden University. She is a proud member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated and the Fulbright Association.
Marc M. Howard is the Co-Executive Director and co-founder of the Pivot Program. He is also the founding director of the Prisons and Justice Initiative (PJI) at Georgetown University, which brings together scholars, practitioners, and students to combat the problem of mass incarceration. Marc is one of the country’s leading voices and advocates for criminal justice and prison reform. His academic research addresses the deep challenges of contemporary democracy and the tragedy of criminal justice and prisons in America. In 2018, PJI launched the Prison Scholars Program at the DC Jail, which offers Georgetown courses, credits, and degrees to incarcerated students.
On campus, Marc is a Professor of Government and Law, whose “Prisons and Punishment” class has become one of the most sought-after courses at Georgetown. In addition, Marc co-teaches a non-traditional course alongside his childhood friend, Marty Tankleff, who was himself wrongfully imprisoned for over 17 years. In the “Making an Exoneree” class, approximately 15 Georgetown undergraduate students take on cases of wrongful convictions and create documentaries with the goal of proving innocence and contributing to exonerations. The class has already contributed to the exoneration of Valentino Dixon, with more expected in the future.
Amy Li is the Communications Director of the Pivot Program. In this role, Amy develops Pivot’s digital content and communications material, including the Pivot newsletter and website news articles. Amy is also responsible for maintaining Pivot’s social media presence across the program’s Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn pages.
Amy is a senior in Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service studying International Economics. On campus, Amy serves as an Executive Editor for The Hoya, Georgetown’s oldest and largest student newspaper, and a research assistant within the McDonough School of Business. Amy is also the Executive Director for the North American Invitational Model United Nations, the largest student-run Model UN conference in the Western hemisphere.
Alyssa Lovegrove is the Academic Director of the Pivot Program. In this role, Alyssa is responsible for the design and delivery of Pivot’s classroom-based curriculum. She also oversees Pivot’s employer outreach efforts and cultivates relationships with potential internship hosts. Alyssa leads Pivot’s efforts to promote second chance hiring, working with corporations and industry associations both locally and nationally to increase employment opportunities for returning citizens.
Alyssa began her career as a corporate relationship manager at Bankers Trust Company and later joined McKinsey & Company, where she worked as a strategy consultant in both New York and London. She left consulting to become the Co-Founder of the Great Little Trading Company, a UK-based online and mail-order retailer of children’s household products. Since her return to the US in 2007, Alyssa has been focusing on the development of innovative entrepreneurship and employment programs for individuals facing economic and social challenges. In 2009, she launched New Venture Mentors, a platform to support aspiring entrepreneurs from underserved economic communities. She is currently an advisor to BroadFutures, which provides internship opportunities to learning-disabled young adults, and Dog Tag Bakery, an entrepreneurship-based transition program for disabled military veterans and their caregivers. At Georgetown, Alyssa is a Professor of the Practice in Entrepreneurship. Alyssa also serves as Senior Advisor to the Georgetown Entrepreneurship Initiative.
Joshua Miller is the Managing Director of the Pivot Program. In this role, Joshua is responsible for leading and managing relationships with Pivot’s partners, including the DC Office of Employment Services and the Minority Business Development Association. Joshua also jointly serves as the Director of Education for the Prisons and Justice Initiative (PJI) at Georgetown University, which brings together scholars, practitioners, and students to combat the problem of mass incarceration.
Over the past ten years, Joshua has co-founded the Prison Scholars Program at Jessup Correctional Institution in Jessup, Maryland, the University of Baltimore Second Chance College Program, and the Georgetown Prison Scholars Program at the DC Jail. On campus, Joshua is an Assistant Teaching Professor in the Philosophy Department. He has authored numerous articles on the subjects of deliberative democracy, philosophy of punishment, mass incarceration, and prison education.
LaTasha Moore is the Program Associate for the Pivot Program. In her role, LaTasha assists with the day-to-day operations of the program, overseeing recruitment and admissions, bi-weekly payroll for Pivot Fellows, in-person/virtual classroom management, and alumni engagement. LaTasha also serves as a Pivot Coach.
LaTasha has over 20 years of government experience in the areas of training, resource management, budget, procurement, and project management. LaTasha’s government experience includes serving as a resource allocation analyst, agency contracting officer/contract specialist, program analyst, and computer specialist/registrar. LaTasha is a recent graduate of Pivot Cohort 3. As a Fellow, she placed first in the 2021 Pivot Pitch Competition along with fellow Pivot alumna Victoria Hunt for their business venture Next Endeavour Diversity Staffing, a staffing firm that focuses on Diversity and Inclusion.
Binita Raval is the Director of Program Management for the Georgetown University McDonough School of Business Custom Executive Education team. In her role, Raval oversees the 30+ customized executive education programs delivered annually at Georgetown and abroad. She is responsible for strategizing and implementing new systems and processes that enable the program management team to perform more effectively and efficiently. Raval works closely with the Custom Executive Education team to strengthen relationships between McDonough and its clients through providing high-quality service and creating transformative and valuable experiences for the participants. Raval also manages her own portfolio of programs and has worked with over 20 public and private sector clients across the globe.
Prior to joining Georgetown, Raval worked at the Institute for Defense and Business, where she planned and delivered custom education programs for the defense industry for over four years. Raval holds a master’s degree in international business and policy from Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business and Walsh School of Foreign Service and a bachelor’s degree in political science and peace, war, and defense with a minor in the languages of Hindi and Urdu from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Pietra Rivoli is the Co-Executive Director of the Pivot Program. Pietra co-founded the program in 2018 while serving as Vice Dean of the McDonough School of Business. Pietra has an overall responsibility for program leadership, fundraising, and strategic direction.
Pietra has served two terms as Vice Dean of the MSB, with overall responsibility for faculty and academic affairs. She is a Professor of Finance and International Business and teaches in Georgetown’s undergraduate, graduate, and executive programs. Her academic research relates to social justice issues in international business and has been published in numerous leading journals. including the Journal of International Business Studies, Business Ethics Quarterly, and the Journal of Money Credit and Banking. Her 2005 book, The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy, has been widely acclaimed by both the popular press and the academic community as a pathbreaking study of globalization. Translated into 14 languages, and revised in 2014, Travels of a T-Shirt has been designated as one of the best business books of the year by multiple other outlets. The book was also a finalist for the Financial-Times-Goldman Sachs Book of the Year Award.